Flattery Will Get You Everywhere
Hi Toby
I'm turning 40 tomorrow and am currently living in Austria with my american husband and 2 small children. We have a TV but we receive not a single station, because I'm not willing to pay 16 Euros a month to watch badly dubbed shows on network TV. I'm telling you there are only 5 men and 4 women dubbing all the shows from the U.S. It's sad really and it makes my ears hurt. I could get original language stations from the BBC in England but that is too expensive for me as well.
Anyhoo, so instead of watching mindless TV, I read stuff. Mostly on the internet because I don't want to read German crap and I don't want to spend a lot of money ordering English books from amazon.de. After 20 years in the U.S. my German sucks and English just reads better.
A few weeks ago I decided to check out some random blogs to see what they're all about. Yours popped up first and I have been trying to catch up with all your previous posts. I'm still back in March. I just can't get enough. As soon as my kids and husband are asleep I log on to read about your life in the Big Apple. I haven't even bothered to look at any other blogs.
You rock Toby Shuster in New York!
Marion
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thank you, marion!! it's nice to know that i have a reader who isn't just a good friend/acquaintance. and i love that you have to sneak it in, after the family is asleep, like i'm running some kind of porn site! do tell us, where do you live in austria? and what do you do? maybe you should start a blahg of your own. i was in vienna once and, after paris, it is positively my favorite city. as much as i love new york, i'd give anything to go back to vienna for a while...
oh and happy birthday!!
I'm turning 40 tomorrow and am currently living in Austria with my american husband and 2 small children. We have a TV but we receive not a single station, because I'm not willing to pay 16 Euros a month to watch badly dubbed shows on network TV. I'm telling you there are only 5 men and 4 women dubbing all the shows from the U.S. It's sad really and it makes my ears hurt. I could get original language stations from the BBC in England but that is too expensive for me as well.
Anyhoo, so instead of watching mindless TV, I read stuff. Mostly on the internet because I don't want to read German crap and I don't want to spend a lot of money ordering English books from amazon.de. After 20 years in the U.S. my German sucks and English just reads better.
A few weeks ago I decided to check out some random blogs to see what they're all about. Yours popped up first and I have been trying to catch up with all your previous posts. I'm still back in March. I just can't get enough. As soon as my kids and husband are asleep I log on to read about your life in the Big Apple. I haven't even bothered to look at any other blogs.
You rock Toby Shuster in New York!
Marion
--------------------------------------------
thank you, marion!! it's nice to know that i have a reader who isn't just a good friend/acquaintance. and i love that you have to sneak it in, after the family is asleep, like i'm running some kind of porn site! do tell us, where do you live in austria? and what do you do? maybe you should start a blahg of your own. i was in vienna once and, after paris, it is positively my favorite city. as much as i love new york, i'd give anything to go back to vienna for a while...
oh and happy birthday!!
posted by Toby Shuster at 2:46 PM
7 Comments:
Hey there Toby Shuster in New York,
Still can't believe you put my message on the blahg.....
Yeah, I like Paris too, I doubt I could ever move to a big city, but if I had to, Paris would be the one.
Vienna is nice (and I'll be there in June) but I live at the other side of the counrty in the Rhine Valley, 20 min from Germany and 3 min from Switzerland. I can see the Swiss mountains still covered in snow when I look out my bedroom window. When I was 18 I used to cross the border every day to serve beer mixed with soda in a restaurant frequented by soccer players.
I spent 20 years in California and after the kids, I whined a lot about missing home and family and my husband *made* me move back home. It's been quite an adjustment for everyone, he had to get a crash course in German, and my daughter had to make new friends in Kindergarten. I don't know yet if we'll stay here or pack up all our belongings yet again to move back. Makes it hard to commit to expensive furniture though.
What do I do here, you ask. These days I mostly take care of my kids, cooking Gulasch and Schnitzel, arranging play dates. If I have free time, I paint, but it's been months since I turned out anything decent. Still trying to get the weight off that I gained during pregnancy, but that's difficult here, the food is so damn good. Austrians don't do labels that say, fat free, of low fat, or reduced calorie. There's yoghurt made of whipped cream!
I think it's amazing that you've lived in Seattle for a while and now New York and you're out there living life. No holding back. Something I've always been afraid to do. I'm having a hard time with the 40 thing. I just don't feel that old. I haven't done anything yet, how can I be 40! What's next? Do I have to put my hair in a bun, and start wearing polyester sweat pants?
Marion
marion.
schnitzel and gulasch! now we know you're not some internet predator based out of iowa or something. i say keep your kids over there. my cousins are swiss and they know about ten languages each, get to eat five hour dinners every night and never seem stressed out about anything. california is nice, but you can't see the swiss alps from your window when you're there. and the austrian pastries!! i would love to see some of your paintings sometime, if you ever get around to posting them.
best,
toby
ps: oh and 40 is the new 30 over here, so you're not that old at all. please hold off on the polyester and sweat pants for at least another 45 years.
pps: and isn't having kids 'something' ?? yup.
It's 1:38 AM, I should so be in bed, I know I'll pay for this tomorrow....
www.geocities.com/marionraby
i love your incarcerated bugs! also, is this
http://www.geocities.com/marionraby/xdavidduchovny.html
your husband? because he's hot.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I'd have to be Tea Leoni to be married to David Duchovny.
But yes, my husband is hot!!
oops, i didn't realize that was david duchovny. he looks hotter in your painting than on tv. good job!
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